Editing Steve Biko (section)

===Death: 1977===
====Arrest and death====
In 1977, Biko broke his banning order by travelling to [[Cape Town]], hoping to meet Unity Movement leader [[Neville Alexander]] and deal with growing dissent in the [[Western Cape]] branch of the BCM, which was dominated by [[Marxism|Marxists]] like [[Johnny Issel]].{{sfnm|1a1=Wilson|1y=2012|1p=129|2a1=Mangcu|2y=2014|2p=243}} Biko drove to the city with his friend Peter Jones on 17 August, but Alexander refused to meet with Biko, fearing that he was being monitored by the police.{{sfnm|1a1=Wilson|1y=2012|1p=130|2a1=Mangcu|2y=2014|2pp=251–254}} Biko and Jones drove back toward King William's Town, but on 18 August they were stopped at a police [[roadblock]] near [[Grahamstown]].{{sfnm|1a1=Bernstein|1y=1978|1p=10|2a1=Woods|2y=1978|2pp=70, 159|3a1=Wilson|3y=2012|3p=131|4a1=Mangcu|4y=2014|4p=256}} Biko was arrested for having violated the order restricting him to King William's Town.{{sfn|Woods|1978|p=159}} Unsubstantiated claims have been made that the security services were aware of Biko's trip to Cape Town and that the road block had been erected to catch him.{{sfn|Mangcu|2014|p=256}} Jones was also arrested at the roadblock; he was subsequently held without trial for 533 days, during which time he was interrogated on numerous occasions.{{sfn|Wilson|2012|p=132}}

The security services took Biko to the Walmer police station in Port Elizabeth, where he was held naked in a cell with his legs in [[legcuffs|shackles]].{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=177|2a1=Silove|2y=1990|2p=418|3a1=Mangcu|3y=2014|3p=260}} On 6 September,{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=159|2a1=Bucher|2y=2012|2p=569|3a1=Mangcu|3y=2014|3p=259}} he was transferred from Walmer to room 619 of the security police headquarters in the Sanlam Building in central Port Elizabeth, where he was interrogated for 22 hours, handcuffed and in shackles, and chained to a grille.{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=vi|2a1=Bucher|2y=2012|2p=569}} Exactly what happened has never been ascertained,{{sfn|Mangcu|2014|p=261}} but during the interrogation he was severely beaten by at least one of the ten security police officers.{{sfn|Woods|1978|p=263}} He suffered three [[brain damage|brain lesion]]s that resulted in a massive brain [[haemorrhage]] on 6 September.{{sfn|Mangcu|2014|pp=260–261}} Following this incident, Biko's captors forced him to remain standing and shackled to the wall.{{sfn|Mangcu|2014|p=260}} The police later said that Biko had attacked one of them with a chair, forcing them to subdue him and place him in handcuffs and [[leg irons]].{{sfn|Bucher|2012|p=569}}

Biko was examined by a doctor, Ivor Lang, who stated that there was no evidence of injury on Biko.{{sfn|Bucher|2012|p=569}} Later scholarship has suggested Biko's injuries must have been obvious.{{sfn|Bucher|2012|p=567}} He was then examined by two other doctors who, after a test showed blood cells to have entered Biko's [[spinal fluid]], agreed that he should be transported to a prison hospital in [[Pretoria]].{{sfn|Bucher|2012|p=569}} On 11 September, police loaded him into the back of a [[Land Rover]], naked and manacled, and drove him {{convert|740|mi|km}} to the hospital.{{sfnm|1a1=Silove|1y=1990|1pp=418–419|2a1=Wilson|2y=2012|2p=139|3a1=Bucher|3y=2012|3p=569|4a1=Mangcu|4y=2014|4pp=261–262}} There, Biko died alone in a cell<!--on a mat on the floor--> on 12 September 1977.{{sfnm|1a1=Bernstein|1y=1978|1p=5|2a1=Mangcu|2y=2014|2p=262}} According to an [[autopsy]], an "extensive brain injury" had caused "centralisation of the blood circulation to such an extent that there had been intravasal blood [[coagulation]], acute [[kidney failure]], and [[uremia]]".{{sfn|Woods|1978|p=182}} He was the twenty-first person to die in a South African prison in twelve months,{{sfn|Wilson|2012|p=11}} and the forty-sixth political detainee to die during interrogation since the government introduced laws permitting imprisonment without trial in 1963.{{sfnm|1a1=Silove|1y=1990|1p=417|2a1=Hill|2y=2015|2p=52}}

====Response and investigation====
News of Biko's death spread quickly across the world, and became symbolic of the abuses of the apartheid system.{{sfnm|1a1=Mangcu|1y=2014|1p=263|2a1=Hill|2y=2015|2p=47|3a1=Wilson|3y=2012|3p=147}} His death attracted more global attention than he had ever attained during his lifetime.{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=47}} Protest meetings were held in several cities;{{sfn|Woods|1978|p=166}} many were shocked that the security authorities would kill such a prominent dissident leader.{{sfn|Mangcu|2014|p=263}} Biko's Anglican funeral service, held on 25 September 1977 at King William's Town's Victoria Stadium, took five hours and was attended by around 20,000 people.{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=169|2a1=Mangcu|2y=2014|2pp=28–30|3a1=Hill|3y=2015|3p=62}} The vast majority were black, but a few hundred whites also attended, including Biko's friends, such as Russell and Woods, and prominent progressive figures like [[Helen Suzman]], [[Alex Boraine]], and [[Zach de Beer]].{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=169|2a1=Mangcu|2y=2014|2p=30}} Foreign diplomats from thirteen nations were present, as was an Anglican delegation headed by Bishop [[Desmond Tutu]].{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=62}} The event was later described as "the first mass political funeral in the country".{{sfn|Mangcu|2014|p=30}} Biko's coffin had been decorated with the motifs of a clenched black fist, the African continent, and the statement "One Azania, One Nation"; [[Azania]] was the name that many activists wanted South Africa to adopt post-apartheid.{{sfnm|1a1=Mangcu|1y=2014|1p=31|2a1=Hill|2y=2015|2p=63}} Biko was buried in the cemetery at Ginsberg.{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=63}} Two BCM-affiliated artists, [[Dikobé Ben Martins]] and [[Robin Holmes]], produced a T-shirt marking the event; the design was banned the following year.{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=25}} Martins also created a commemorative poster for the funeral, the first in a tradition of funeral posters that proved popular throughout the 1980s.{{sfn|Hill|2015|pp=25, 60}}

[[File:Fist.svg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Biko's coffin featured the motif of a clenched black fist. Many in the Black Consciousness Movement used this fist as a symbol.{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=10}}|alt=A stylised motif of a black clenched fist]]

Speaking publicly about Biko's death, the country's police minister [[Jimmy Kruger]] initially implied that it had been the result of a [[hunger strike]], a statement he later denied. His account was challenged by some of Biko's friends, including Woods, who said that Biko had told them that he would never kill himself in prison.{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1pp=166–167|2a1=Mangcu|2y=2014|2pp=24–25, 262|3a1=Hill|3y=2015|3p=50}} Publicly, he stated that Biko had been plotting violence, a claim repeated in the pro-government press.{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=167|2a1=Hill|2y=2015|2p=52}} South Africa's attorney general initially stated that no one would be prosecuted for Biko's death.{{sfn|Woods|1978|p=173}} Two weeks after the funeral, the government banned all Black Consciousness organisations, including the BCP, which had its assets seized.{{sfnm|1a1=Hadfield|1y=2010|1p=95|2a1=Macqueen|2y=2013|2p=522|3a1=Hill|3y=2015|3pp=54, 117}}

Both domestic and international pressure called for a public [[inquest]] to be held, to which the government agreed.{{sfn|Woods|1978|pp=173–174}} It began in Pretoria's [[The Old Synagogue, Pretoria|Old Synagogue]] courthouse in November 1977, and lasted for three weeks.{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=176|2a1=Hill|2y=2015|2p=69}} Both the running of the inquest and the quality of evidence submitted came in for extensive criticism.{{sfn|Silove|1990|p=419}} An observer from the [[Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law]] stated that the [[affidavit]]'s statements were "sometimes redundant, sometimes inconsistent, frequently ambiguous"; [[David Napley]] described the police investigation of the incident as "perfunctory in the extreme".{{sfn|Silove|1990|p=419}} The security forces alleged that Biko had acted aggressively and had sustained his injuries in a scuffle, in which he had banged his head against the cell wall.{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=177|2a1=Hill|2y=2015|2p=70}} The presiding magistrate accepted the security forces' account of events and refused to prosecute any of those involved.{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=180|2a1=Mangcu|2y=2014|2p=264}}{{sfn|Whitaker|2003}}<ref name=vindicator />

The verdict was treated with scepticism by much of the international media and the US Government led by President [[Jimmy Carter]].{{sfn|Hill|2015|pp=82–83}} On 2 February 1978, based on the evidence given at the inquest, the attorney general of the [[Eastern Cape]] stated that he would not prosecute the officers.<ref name=CalgaryHerald /> After the inquest, Biko's family brought a civil case against the state; at the advice of their lawyers, they agreed to a settlement of [[South African rand|R]]65,000 ([[United States dollar|US$]]78,000) in July 1979.<ref name=vindicator/>{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=85}} Shortly after the inquest, the [[South African Medical and Dental Council]] initiated proceedings against the medical professionals who had been entrusted with Biko's care; eight years later two of the medics were found guilty of improper conduct.{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=84}} The failure of the government-employed doctors to diagnose or treat Biko's injuries has been frequently cited as an example of a repressive state influencing medical practitioners' decisions, and Biko's death as evidence of the need for doctors to serve the needs of patients before those of the state.{{sfn|Bucher|2012|p=567}}

After the abolition of apartheid and the establishment of a majority government in 1994, a [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa)|Truth and Reconciliation Commission]] was established to investigate past human-rights abuses.{{sfn|Hill|2015|pp=191, 211}} The commission made plans to investigate Biko's death, but his family petitioned against this on the grounds that the commission could grant [[amnesty]] to those responsible, thereby preventing the family's right to justice and redress. In 1996, the [[Constitutional Court of South Africa|Constitutional Court]] ruled against the family, allowing the investigation to proceed.{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=215}} Five police officers ([[Harold Snyman]], [[Gideon Nieuwoudt]], Ruben Marx, Daantjie Siebert, and Johan Beneke) appeared before the commission and requested amnesty in return for information about the events surrounding Biko's death.{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=215}} In December 1998, the Commission refused amnesty to the five men; this was because their accounts were conflicting and thus deemed untruthful, and because Biko's killing had no clear political motive, but seemed to have been motivated by "ill-will or spite".{{Sfn|Whitaker|2003}}{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=215}} In October 2003, South Africa's justice ministry announced that the five policemen would not be prosecuted because the [[statute of limitations]] had elapsed and there was insufficient evidence to secure a prosecution.{{Sfn|Whitaker|2003}}